Rich with case material and artwork samples, this volume demonstrates a range of creative approaches for facilitating children's emotional reparation and recovery from trauma. Contributors include experienced practitioners of play, art, music, movement and drama therapies, bibliotherapy, and integrative therapies, who describe step-by-step strategies for working with individual children, families, and groups. The case-based format makes the book especially practical and user-friendly. Specific types of stressful experiences addressed include parental loss, child abuse, accidents, family violence, bullying, and mass trauma. Broader approaches to promoting resilience and preventing posttraumatic problems in children at risk are also presented.

Expressive Arts Therapy for Traumatized Children and Adolescents is the book so many expressive arts and trauma therapists have been waiting for. Not only does it lay out an organized, thorough framework for applying varied expressive arts modalities, it provides clear directions for the application of these modalities at different phases of treatment. Both beginning and experienced clinicians and students will appreciate the thoughtful analyses of ways for introducing expressive arts to clients, engaging clients with their art, being present to the art that is created, and working within a particular session structure that guides the treatment process. Readers will also receive more specific learning regarding the process of using body-focused and sensory-based language and skills in the process of trauma treatment over time. They’ll pick up more than 60 priceless expressive-arts assessment and treatment interventions that are sure to serve them well for years to come. The appendices features these interventions as photocopiable handouts that will guide the therapist working with youth through each phase of treatment.

Life Story Therapy is an approach designed to enable children to explore, question and understand the past events of their lives. It aims to secure their future through strengthening attachment with their carers and providing the opportunity to develop a healthy sense of self and a feeling of wellbeing. This comprehensive overview lays out the theory underlying life story therapy, including an accessible explanation of contemporary research in neurobiology and trauma. Featuring tried and tested ideas, with tools and templates illustrated through instructive case studies, the author identifies how life story therapy can be implemented in practice. Finally, the relationships between life story therapy and traditional 'talking' therapies are explored. Life Story Therapy with Traumatized Children is essential reading for those working with children and adolescents, including social workers, teachers, child psychotherapists, residential care staff, long-term carers, psychologists and other professionals.

A burgeoning evidence base supports that arts, play and other creative therapies have potential to help children in foster care, kinship care or adoptive families to recover from complex trauma. Written by contributors working at the cutting edge of delivering effective therapeutic interventions, this innovative book describes models for working with children in foster care, kinship care or adoption. Covering how to assess needs and contextual considerations for working with children and families, this book presents a range of creative therapeutic approaches spanning art psychotherapy, music therapy and dance therapy. It emphasizes the necessity of working with caregivers and other significant adults, as well as the child, to facilitate recovery. The theoretical foundations of attachment, developmental psychology and neurobiology are embedded in each chapter showing how they underpin each of the recommended creative therapies. This book will be suitable for professionals directly employing creative approaches in their practice, such as arts therapists and play therapists, as well as those working with children who are interested in creative alternate approaches, such as psychologists, counsellors, therapists and social workers.

Expressive and Creative Arts Methods for Trauma Survivors demonstrates how play, art, and music therapies, as well as sandplay, psychodrama and storytelling, can be used to aid the recovery of trauma victims. Drawing on detailed case studies and a growing body of evidence of the benefits of non-verbal therapies, the contributors - all leading practitioners in their fields - provide an overview of creative therapies that tap into sensate aspects of the brain not always reached by verbal therapy alone. Methods of exploring traumatic experiences with a view to limiting patients' distress are also.

Listening to a small child describe a parent's murder can tax the most seasoned professional. Cases of physical and sexual abuse where trauma was deliberately inflicted can particularly challenge a practitioner's defenses.Treating Traumatized Children is the first handbook to provide specific guidance and tools for treating children who have been traumatized by physical and sexual abuse, disaster, divorce, or witnessing violent events. This book will provide helping professionals with a clear blueprint for assessing the impact of trauma and developing specific treatment plans.Beverly James, a specialist in evaluating and treating traumatized children, outlines creative exercises and techniques that will enable clinicians to join with children in slowly and carefully reviewing their experiences and helping them understand and accept their feelings related to the trauma. Art, play, and drama techniques, among others, are presented in a sophisticated yet straightforward style, useful to clinicians with specialized training in such techniques or those using them for the first time.

INTRODUCING A PRACTICAL MODEL OF PLAY THERAPY FOR TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN Some of the most rewarding work a therapist can do is help a child recover from a traumatic event. But where to begin? A growing body of play therapy literature offers many specific techniques and a variety of theoretical models; however, many therapists are still searching for a comprehensive model of treatment that incorporates solid theoretical constructs with effective play therapy interventions. Clinicians have long recognized that trauma therapy is not just a matter of techniques but a journey with a beginning, middle, and end. In a pioneering contribution to the field, Play Therapy with Traumatized Children: A Prescriptive Approach, the author codifies the process in her model, Flexibly Sequential Play Therapy (FSPT). Integrating non-directive and directive approaches, this components-based model allows for the uniqueness of each child to be valued while providing a safe, systematic journey towards trauma resolution. The FSPT model demystifies play-based trauma treatment by outlining the scope and sequence of posttraumatic play therapy and providing detailed guidance for clinicians at each step of the process. Dramatically demonstrating the process of healing in case histories drawn from fifteen years of clinical practice with traumatized children, Play Therapy with Traumatized Children addresses: Creating a safe place for trauma processing Augmenting the child’s adaptive coping strategies and soothing his or her physiology Correcting the child’s cognitive distortions Ensuring that caregivers are facilitative partners in treatment Inviting gradual exposure to trauma content through play Creating developmentally sensitive trauma narratives Using termination to make positive meaning of the post-trauma self